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Georgian Bluffs is reaching out to the city for another crack at reaching a recreation deal.
At a special property and recreation committee meeting Monday, Georgian Bluffs officials were set to discuss how much they would subsidize parents who wanted to continue signing their kids up for Owen Sound sports and recreation programs.
Instead, the committee decided to ask for another negotiating meeting with Owen Sound some time around the first week of February.
About a dozen residents braved the snowy weather to urge the committee members, which also included Mayor Al Barfoot, to try to reach a deal with the city.
“Personally, I would love to see you go back and try to negotiate something, and not encumber people with subsidies and all the rest, that would be time consuming and expensive to administer,” Jeff Pinch told the committee. “It would be wonderful if the city and the township could get together and come to an agreement.”
Maryann Davies urged the committee to “support our community,” even if it means having to pay the city more.
“To me that's money well spent, to support all the children, whether they use it (city sports) or not,” she said.
The shared use agreement between the city and Georgian Bluffs expired at the end of 2012 after negotiations fell apart late last fall.
In 2012, Georgian Bluffs paid Owen Sound $47,787 and Meaford paid the city $25,055 as part of their recreation agreements.
The city's last and “bottom line” offer is to charge both municipalities $125 per minor sport participant, which, based on 2011 participant numbers, would amount to $72,875 for Georgian Bluffs and $25,625 for Meaford.
Georgian Bluffs has offered an increase of 5% each year over three years, but the city has said that's too low. After three years, that would amount to about $92 for each participant.
Barfoot said Monday, however, that the two sides aren't that far apart. In 2012, there were fewer Georgian Bluffs youths taking part in Owen Sound programs than the year before – 546 compared with 583. If the new participant number is factored into the lump sum Georgian Bluffs has offered to pay, it comes to about $102 per participant at the end of three years.
“By the end of three years, we're going to be almost to where the city was looking at,” Barfoot said.
On Monday, the committee mused about trying to get a soccer program started up in Shallow Lake, or getting the Sauble Beach soccer league to expand into Georgian Bluffs. But when they asked residents in the audience about it, the majority were clearly in favour of staying with Owen Sound Minor Soccer.
“The reality of it is the best facilities, the best coaches and the best programs are in Owen Sound,” said Ed Stengel, a soccer coach and parent.
Without a new recreation agreement, Owen Sound has said it would charge non-residents $167 for ice sports and $100 for field sports.
The committee talked briefly Monday about subsidizing part of that fee. Three scenarios were presented — a 25% subsidy, a 50% subsidy and a 75% subsidy. A 75% subsidy would cost the township $50,400, which is close to what it's offered to pay Owen Sound for 2013 as part of a new shared agreement.
Further talk of a subsidy will now await the outcome of a meeting with Owen Sound.
Barfoot, who sits on the negotiating committee along with Coun. Ryan Thompson, said the city clearly wants neighbouring municipalities to help pay to run and maintain city facilities, and that it's not fair.
“They're asking us to pay toward those, and we have not asked them to pay toward our facilities, so we're going to clarify what our costs are. We've said it would be per participant, so the comparison to household costs are irrelevant to this whole thing,” Barfoot said.
Barfoot said he doesn't see why the city wouldn't agree to meet again with Georgian Bluffs and Meaford, and that a deal remains a possibility. Minor soccer registration begins Feb. 12, so there's pressure to get a new agreement or a subsidy policy out before then.
Georgian Bluffs plans to put out its own fact sheet for its residents, similar to one the city put out last month.